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Thursday, September 11, 2008

RABBI FORCED OFF SEX PANEL

RABBI FORCED OFF SEX PANEL

By BILL SANDERSON

Posted: 3:54 amSeptember 11, 2008

Saying the cause was right but the threats it brought his family too much to bear, a prominent Brooklyn rabbi yesterday quit a new task force set up by Assemblyman Dov Hikind to combat child sex abuse among Orthodox Jews.

Benzion Twerski, a Ph.D psychologist who signed on to Hikind's effort last week, said the verbal harassment of his family amounted to threats of "excommunication" from the Orthodox community.

In a post on the Orthodox news blog Vos Iz Neias, Twerski said some people told him they'd cross the street to avoid him, and that his adult children were told their children would never marry.

"I don't have to be in a place where I choose between this and my family. My family was given to me first," Twerski told The Post.

Hikind has made a cause of halting child sex abuse among the Orthodox. The Democratic Assemblyman says he's heard "hundreds" of abuse stories from Orthodox Jews in his district and elsewhere.

Hikind said Twerski's harassment is a sign many Orthodox have no wish to confront the issue.